New Orleans hip-hop music has grown increasingly important to the soundtrack mix on "Treme," and some of its best-known performers have been spotlighted, including the Sunday (May 15) appearance by Katey Red.

What's a "Treme" music consultant do? Do you polish ideas in scripts? Are you a source for writers when they have a question? Do you propose names when they show you a script that says (need hip-hop performer here)?

The writers are all pretty expert in music in their own way, and the scripts tend to arrive with most of the songs chosen and written in. I answered occasional questions about music that was maybe less well known to them or outside the NOLA canon, like hip-hop and metal and underground rock. On one or two occasions I was asked to send a few songs to fit a given context for the writer or director to choose from, or to recommend a local musician to perform or appear in a particular scene. I also, like all the consultants, read one version of each script and send a page of comments back. They're incredibly attentive to detail. I think my first comment was pointing out that a CD a character has in an early scene wouldn't have been out for a few more months. I was worried I was being too picky, but when they saw the episode, I noticed they had changed the dialogue very slightly to make it clear that it was an advance copy. I also sent some unsolicited mixtapes, playlists of songs, and articles about music along, which nobody complained about so I assumed it was OK.

There's a hip-hop scene in New Orleans? I thought it was just Trombone Shorty and them.

Trombone Shorty IS hip-hop! He turned up with bounce veteran 5th Ward Weebie onstage at Jazz Fest this year. That's a very glib way of pointing it out, but one of the things that's fascinating about the hip-hop scene here is that it interacts in so many ways with the other genres of music that are native. In brief, hip-hop everywhere is kind of a pastiche, drawing from older recordings via samples and breaks.

In New Orleans, so many young artists continue to keep classic music alive, so that hip-hop artists collaborate with traditionalists in a much more vital way and genres get mixed really uniquely and excitingly. Don B, who was also a consultant, is a great example of that -- he grew up in the business with his dad, Dave Bartholomew, and became a significant engineer and producer of hip-hop and R&B. They did a collaboration, "Born In The Country," last year. NO has been home to some of the great indie rap labels with national sound - Big Boy (where Mystikal started out), No Limit, and Cash Money - but there's also a massive body of work from local artists that incorporates brass and Indian elements into hip-hop and bounce. It's incredibly singular and exciting music. And there are bounce songs like PNC's "Pump The Party" or Ricky B's "Y'all Holla" that stand as New Orleans classics, recognizable at a party 15-20 years after their release.

What are the musical characteristics of New Orleans bounce?

Bounce started out in the late 80's and early 90's, and has evolved tremendously. Early stuff is singsongy, sometimes with reggae elements, and lots of call-and-response, which is what makes it so great to hear live. (You saw the scene in episode two where Big Freedia and Sissy Nobby perform in the midst of the crowd without the separation of a stage; the entertainment is also AT the party, which is part of what makes it so dynamic.) There are common beats and bases for songs that many classics use, like the syncopated "Brown Beat" and "Drag Rap," the latter of which uses the familiar "Dragnet" hook and a sort of arpeggio of bells. As bounce evolved, beats like the "Cheeky Blakk" (Davis mentions her in episode three) beat, which adds handclaps, and the "Roll Call" beat, which is newer, faster and harder. Contemporary bounce is often just pounding and has only a few lines; then the MC calls out directions or invites people to shout out for their neighborhood. Old-school bounce had a slower beat and more defined lyrics. It used to be more common to incorporate Indian chants and brass than it seems to be now, but it's still there.

Is there any content or subject-matter or rhythmic crossover with traditional New Orleans R&B? Shared rhythms with Indian songs? If so, what are some examples?

Some of my favorite bounce songs, like J Ro J's "Let's Jump" or 2 Blakk's "Second Line Jump," use a sousaphone and a second-line beat. DJ Jubilee, PNC, KC Redd and others have all used the "Iko Iko" melody and lyrics, Cheeky Blakk and Soulja Slim appeared on a great album with the Rebirth Brass Band, "Hot Venom," in 2001, I think (possibly '02 or '03.) I have met a lot of rappers who are in Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, were in marching band or even brass bands, or masked Indian.

A lot of people maybe Googled the bounce performers after episode two to find out what their story is. What's their story?

The rappers you see in episode two are the three most prominent "sissy bounce," or openly gay, MCs on the scene - Big Freedia, Katey Red and Sissy Nobby. "Sissy bounce" was sort of a media-created genre that describes the gay performers, but their music or performance style isn't that necessarily different from straight rappers, male or female, working today. It's just high-energy, move-the-crowd stuff. Katey Red is the original; she was signed to Take Fo Records, a prominent 90's bounce label, in 1998 and put out two albums. Big Freedia, who she's been friends with since high school (Katey was a majorette and Freedia was choir director) started as a backup performer with Katey and went off on her own in 2000 or so. Sissy Nobby is a bit younger; Nobby is a really interesting performer, I think. Nobby's lyrics are much more intimate and personal than a lot of bounce is these days, and he also produces his own tracks. (Katey and Freedia work with popular producers like DJ BlacknMild and Showboy CJ.) After the storm, Nobby and Freedia were really burning up the club scene, doing dozens of gigs each week. When Katey came back, she got back into performing live as well. Now all three of them are enjoying a degree of national attention, which I guess “Treme” will only increase.

And, finally, what's up with that dance?

Well, you'll have to ask the ladies who grew up doing it. I've had conversations about whether it's objectifying to women or sexually demeaning, and as an observer I would have to say I don't think it is. Touching is absolutely not allowed, it seems. (Big Freedia and her dancer Altercation give a great class on the meaning of the dance and its roots in island and West African movement.) It's also not the only dance -- bounce dance crews like the Game Ova Boys do an amazing livewire style of dance that got them on "So You Think You Can Dance."